


I Love You

by sulphuriccherry



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26671285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sulphuriccherry/pseuds/sulphuriccherry
Summary: ITS MY BIRTHDAY 💕 this bitch is 24 today whaaatThis fic is a quick one shot, I hope you like it, I think it's mega cute. This is dedicated to a real cutiepie 🦋Follow me on twitter at sulphuriccherry - I will do a face reveal after 5 more followers, and will poll to see which fic you want me to write next. It's private and not obviously starker so you won't be found out!
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 25
Kudos: 135





	I Love You

  
Tony Stark never said the three words that everyone wanted him to. Not to his mother, never to his father and not to any of his pets growing up, including his most favourite dog; Buckly. The words never seemed to enter his head, so they never even his mouth. Even when he was with his partners over the years, even in bed, in a state of ecstasy. He remained chaste on the subject of love. 

So when Tony met Pepper and they hit it off, she fell head over heels for him, and he liked that. Their romance was the greatest of her life, a whirlwind of emotion and great sex. It lasted for a long time, and even got them down the aisle. 

But she never heard Tony say those words. She begged him, pleaded him, cried her eyes out for days because his heart wouldn't let him be this vulnerable. Maybe it was because Tony was emotionally closed off, or maybe it was because he never really felt love? Who knows. But in the 47 years of his existence love never entered it once.

Love wasn't real, that's what Tony had decided. He was content with his life, and that was enough. Truly, Tony was sure that love was something made up by companies to sell you things like food or clothes. "Buy this and you'll find love." "Listen to this and love will find you." It was all bullshit. 

Even when Happy went into hospital, (he was fine by the way, but they thought they were going to lose him for a while), Tony couldn't say it. It killed him, and he cried. He sat by Happy in the hospital every single day, but still, nothing would come out. Nothing could.

Again, when his other best friend Rhodey moved halfway across the world with his new wife, Tony was unsurprisingly unable to let it out. How did he manage to make it this far and not feel a feeling that everyone says they have?? He must be broken, that was the only explanation. 

Was Tony supposed to believe that one day you just want to give your heart to someone else? That he would look at someone and want to cry? Hold them? Kiss them? Poppycock! That was ridiculous. It was weak, it was childish and it wasn't for him.

No to love. 

So why was it that all of a sudden at the ripe age of 47, his heart started to feel foreign? That everytime a certain someone walked by, his heart fluttered and his stomach filled up with butterflies. Every time he heard the person's voice, it was like his soul was cleansed of all the badness that had ever happened to him. It scared the shit out of him.

Tony found himself thinking about him all the time. What was he doing? What was he thinking? Was he happy? Was he safe? Ugh. That was the first step on his road to doom. He began to check his phone for messages from him, and then he began to text him out of the blue. When he got a reply, why the fuck was he grinning so much? 

This man was probably the most beautiful man to have ever graced this earth with his presence, and Tony became hooked.

Of course the object of his affection didn't mind, he was eager to be a part of his life. So that meant that if Tony decided he wanted to see the man, the man was there within a moment. 

There were a few things wrong with this new 'crush' of his.

Tony had never felt this way before, and it scared him.   
Tony had NEVER even liked a guy before, especially one so young. (He was 21.)  
His feelings were ever deepening on the most gorgeous, beautiful, smart, intelligent, funny, cool, maddening, irritating ex intern of his. Mr. Peter Parker. 

Tony hated himself, he hated that when he closed his eyes at night he thought about a person he could never have. That he reached out and no one was there, HE wasn't there. He always wondered what it would be like to wrap his arms around Peter and cuddle into him, would he be warm? Would he be into cuddling?

Tony never was a cuddler. He was a get the job done then get the fuck out kinda man, but now? Christ, he wanted to curl up in that man's embrace and kiss him until his skin was red and sweaty.

It scared him how much it grew. How much time he spent thinking about Peter. Peter's smile was dazzling, his eyes were enticing. He wanted to whisk him away and fulfill his every hope and desire, grant him all his wishes and hold him until the stars faded out.

But Tony didn't have feelings. That was the reputation he had and he worked very hard to get that, so he had to push it away.

So he found little ways of satisfying himself in Peter's presence. He would let him sit in his armchair, where no one was ever allowed to even touch. And Peter loved it. Tony would send him random gifts, like a new laptop, or a Star Wars bobble head. Every Friday, (the day that Peter was born), was presents day, so the younger man woke up to something amazing every time.

Peter just thought they were becoming best friends, so when he came over to watch movies in the middle of the night, he would sit and joke and laugh with him. 

Tony was living. 

He kept himself restrained and he made sure he didn't touch him. Okay, maybe he touched him a little. When he passed by the back of him, he'd let his fingers gently graze Peter's perfect waist. God, he was perfect.

Tony would sit and admire him, from the muscles on his arms, to the eyebrow that never followed the rules. That jawline… those wrinkles by his eyes when he smiled… even those stupidly cute lips. Would Peter be a good kisser? Would he be a loud lover? He hoped so. 

Wait… lover?

Oh no.

Oh no, oh fuck, no way. Tony hated this, he hated it so much but he couldn't stop. He could no longer touch himself unless he was thinking about Peter, which was terrifying.   
He didn't mean to be obsessed with the man.

But still. Those three little words remained hidden inside of him, just waiting to come out.

\---

Tony had invited everyone over for their monthly dinner party, in which he got a caterer and a massive amount of alcohol. It was usually done at different peoples houses each month, usually nothing big or fancy, but today he went a little overboard.

Why? 

Because this time, Peter was coming. 

Peter had been away at college for the last few months, which meant they hadn't seen each other. But Tony texted him daily, telling him he was doing so well and that the older man was proud of him. 

But tonight he was coming home, I mean, back. So Tony had it all set up, Peter's favourite foods, his favourite drink, his favourite chocolates for afters. The table was set out so Peter would be sitting next to him, and the night was going to be amazing. 

Who else was on the party list? 

Happy and May, the newly married couple who loved these dinner parties and always made time to cook everything themselves. Pepper was coming over with her new lover, Gregory, who seemed to be quite nice. He was the new flavour of the month, there were at least seven different men he'd met by now.   
Each of them were nice enough. But he didn't care about that tonight, what mattered is that Peter was going to join in, and spend time with him. 

Tony was practically jumping around the apartment, getting everything ready for his guests. Everything was going to be great. He put on his favourite suit and made sure everything was running as smoothly as possible before they turned up.

When the elevators opened, Pepper and Gregory walked in as happy as could be, arm in arm. This man was tall and slim, good hair and a nice jawline. Not too bad compared to the others! Tony greeted them but kept his eye on the doors.

"Can we get a drink?" Pepper laughed.

"Uh. Sure, of course." Tony smiled at them, eyes shifting to the door and then back to them. "Two drinks coming right up." He hurried off to the kitchen to pour them some wine.

As he stood in the kitchen, getting them a nice helping of alcohol, the nerves filled up his stomach. Tony couldn't wait to see the younger man, he wondered what he was going to be wearing. 

Tony put the bottle down as he heard Pepper laugh, there were more people here. He could hardly contain his excitement as he picked up the glasses and walked into the other room with a nervous smile on his face. 

It was only Happy and May, "Oh hey guys!" He greeted them. "Two more drinks coming your way!" Tony exclaimed with a smile as he handed the glasses to their owners. 

As he turned around to walk back to the kitchen, he heard a voice speak up behind him. "Make that three!"

Peter.

Tony spun around to see the most beautiful man standing there with a stunning smile on his face. His eyes were lit up and they fucking sparkled, it nearly took Tony's breath away. He stood there in jeans and a sweater, his brown curls a stunning mess and a backpack over his shoulder. 

"Peter," Tony smiled. He was about to step forward and greet the kid, but everyone beat him to it. May wrapped her arms around him, gushing over how well he looked. I mean, he did look well. He looked well, damned fine! 

The older man sighed, he wasn't able to get to Peter any time soon. So he schlepped himself back into the kitchen to fix three more drinks. Tony tried to hurry as best he could, accidentally spilling a little on the side.

"I'll have what you're having."

A smirk crawled onto Tony's face, he turned his head to see Peter standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. He looked so fucking kissable. Tony's mouth was dry.

"Hey kid," he replied, "Long time no see."

Peter took a step forward. "I know, I hated it. For some reason I was hoping you'd come and visit me at college." He walked over and leaned against the table that Tony was using. 

"Wouldn't that be fun?" He looked up to meet Peter's eyes, nearly dropping the bottle in his hand as he lost himself in them.

"I uh," Peter fiddled with his fingers a little, "I missed you."

Tony could have had a heart attack. He knew that Peter didn't mean it like that, but oh how great would that be? He cleared his throat. "I missed you too. So how's college, huh? Meet anyone special?"

Peter laughed, "No," he grinned. "I'm not really into the people there," he took one of the freshly poured glasses and held it up to his lips. "Are you not drinking?"

Tony shook his head. "One year sober," he spoke, "I made it a year and three days. I'm not going to fuck it up now."

The younger man took the glass away from his mouth and set it down again. "So what are we drinking?"

"You don't have to on my account." Tony commented, picking up the drinks for Happy and May. "You never became an asshole on that stuff."

Peter shrugged, "I don't want you to feel left out. Also, I never thought you were an asshole." He smiled as he walked over to the fridge, looking for some soda.

Tony stood and watched him, his heart beating so fast it made him worry. "I got you soda," he told Peter. "Bottom shelf, get me one."

"On it." Peter replied, bending over and reaching over to retrieve two cans. 

Okay, so maybe that was slightly planned. The older man stood there with his eyes attached to the most peachy and perfect ass he'd ever seen. Peter could not be more attractive if he tried. Tony had to fight his urges to pounce, it was an almost animalistic need to hold the man and do passionate things to him. Tony gulped and tore his eyes away, trying to get the flushing to go down.

Peter stood back up and they both walked through with their drinks. 

The evening was fine to begin with, everyone was chatting and catching up. And of course, from where Tony was standing he could see Peter perfectly, laughing along with Gregory and Pepper as they talked about something vaguely interesting. But the older man's heart couldn't keep his attention on anything but Peter.

It wasn't until they were going to sit down, when Tony managed to get Peter to sit and converse with him. He was so excited he just barely knew what to say to him. Tony was sitting at the head of the table and Peter was on his right. He leaned into Peter with his arm on the table.

"So tell me everything I've missed, I feel like I hardly know you anymore." He tried to keep his face in neutral as best as he could.

Peter smiled and shuffled his chair slightly closer. "Well, I've nearly got you beat on how much you can bench press. And I've actually been working a lot on some new sketches and ideas for you during my free time -" 

Tony grinned, "You've been doing things for me in your free time?" 

Peter nodded, "I always do that. I mean, it might not be any good, and it might not be what you're looking for but I figure if I come up with something good enough you might just take it." He smiled as he looked at his mentor.

Tony was proud, touched and completely overwhelmed. "Thank you," he replied as he tried to keep his voice from sounding too in love. "I'm glad I have you on my team,"

"Actually, I was hoping to ask you a favour." Peter commented. "You know how we haven't done the internship in a while?" He raised his eyebrows. 

Tony nodded in reply.

"Well, I was hoping we could pick it up again. I know you're really busy and you probably have like thousands of applicants, but I promise I'll do even better than before and I -"

The older man cut him off. "Of course we can, Peter. You know that's not a problem." He could hardly contain his excitement, he was ready to scream. "Just email me your availability and we'll make it work!"

Peter's face lit up which almost gave Tony a fucking heart attack with how beautiful he was. "You mean it? Thank you so much this is so cool! I'm going to go and call my friends in class, they won't believe it!" He got out his phone and got out of his seat before walking to the end of the room at the other side of the table from Tony. 

He put his phone to his ear and started gushing over the Stark Internship as Tony watched on. Peter was happy to spend time with him… hell yeah. As Tony's eyes took in the poetic art that was Peter's body language and facial expressions, Happy sat down in the seat beside him where Peter had been.

"You don't seem like yourself."

Tony frowned and took his eyes from his intern, looking round at his best friend. "What?"

"I don't know, you just seem… not you. Is something on your mind?" Happy asked him quietly. 

The billionaire shook his head, "No. I'm just a little frazzled with work is all." He lied as visions of Peter's perfect legs entered his head, opening up to show those creamy soft thighs...

"Tony?" Happy clicked in front of his face, "Tony?"

The man in question shook himself out of it and looked rather shocked at Happy. "No, honestly I'm fine. I just want everyone to have a good time."

Peter came back to the table practically buzzing with excitement, sitting at the other end now where Happy had been to tell the others the news. 

Tony wasn't paying attention to Happy as he sat and talked about… something? He was a little preoccupied, his elbow on the table and his head in his hand, he stared at the plate in front of him, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. 

"Tony?" May asked over to him.

The older man snapped out of it and looked up at them all, who were staring at him. "Uh, what did I miss?"

"You told me you had trashed the intern idea." Pepper reminded him. "You said there were too many issues and that no one would ever be able to keep up with you."

Everyone watched him expectantly. He did remember saying that to be honest, but it was more that he didn't want someone who wasn't Peter. "Yeah, I said that." He cleared his throat and sat up.

"But you just gave Peter the internship?" May spoke up, very confused. 

Tony nodded, "Well, of course. It's Peter." He tried to look like it wasn't anything important as he reached over for his drink and took a sip.

Happy then decided to join in, "Tony, you were literally saying you wouldn't trust any student in your lab."

Oh my god do they all have this ridiculously good memory that they remember everything ever?? 

"I trust Peter." Tony commented, not looking at anyone. "Don't you guys?" 

They all agreed and nodded, of course Peter was trustworthy, but that wasn't the point here.

"Guys," Peter's beautiful soft voice began. He had the cutest little smile on his face as his curls gently kissed his forehead. He spoke softly and happily. "Leave him alone, I am sure he has his reasons but I, for one, don't care about them. I'm just excited to be coming back to work here, with my hero, and learn a lot." He looked around everyone to see them smiling at him.

"I love you."

Everyone's head snapped to look at Tony with surprise and shock. Pepper was almost distraught, her eyebrows angry and her lips pursed. Happy's face dropped, eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. May was confused, and Gregory wasn't really paying attention. 

But Tony just looked at Peter with a smile.

"You uh… what?" Peter asked. 

"I love you." Tony repeated, "Need me to say it a third time?" 

The younger man blushed and bit his bottom lip, staring down at the plate in front of him. 

"You're cute when you blush." Tony spoke out, getting his confidence up. 

"Excuse me but what the fuck?!" Pepper exclaimed. "You were married to me for years and you couldn't say that to me! I begged you!" She sounded hurt.

Peter's eyes shot over to Pepper, shocked that she never got those words and he did. He watched her face and then looked at Tony again, who was looking back at him with a gentle smile. 

"Tony, no one has ever heard you say that." Happy reminded him.

"I know, it's my first time saying it." Tony commented, still staring at Peter as the younger man's eyes filled with sparkles. "And I mean it."

The younger man's face went bright red as he blushed so hard. He had no idea what to say, or what to do. "Do you… do you mean it like platonic… or…"

"What do you think?" Tony asked him warmly, "Do you think I love you as a friend? Or do you think I'm going to walk over there and kiss you right now?" 

"Oh god, please kiss me." Peter breathed as he nervously spoke. 

Within seconds, Tony got up from the table and walked around it, eyes still on Peter as he reached him. Peter stood up, ridiculously nervous with a hint of hopeless devotion in his eyes. 

Tony let his fingertips gently graze the side of Peter's cheek, he wore such a handsome smile that it made Peter's knees weak. "I love you, Peter." He whispered as he leaned in and rubbed their noses together gently. 

"I love you too, Tony." Peter replied before moving forward and pressing his soft lips against Tony's. It was almost like magic, their lips touched and suddenly nothing else mattered. 

Tony's hands pulled Peter's waist closer before wrapping his arms around him. The younger man's arms slid up around his neck as he kissed him slowly and lovingly. They nibbled at each other's lips for a few moments, smiling into the kisses as Tony held him extremely close.

They pulled back a little, eyes slowly opening and meeting that of each other's. Both of them shared a flirty yet hopelessly in love smile, a moment so perfect that could never be ruined. 

Pepper's voice rang out through the room. "You've GOT to be kidding me."

**Author's Note:**

> ITS MY BIRTHDAY 💕 this bitch is 24 today whaaat
> 
> This fic is a quick one shot, I hope you like it, I think it's mega cute. This is dedicated to a real cutiepie 🦋
> 
> Follow me on twitter at sulphuriccherry - I will do a face reveal after 5 more followers, and will poll to see which fic you want me to write next. It's private and not obviously starker so you won't be found out!


End file.
